Sometimes, it's best just to take a deep breath and count to 10. That is what happened in hockey on Friday, with less than a week to go until the NHL's deadline for an agreement on a collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA to save an 82-game regular season.

As the boardroom combatants retreated to their corners, there were housekeeping matters to handle.

— The NHL canceled all games through Nov. 1, setting the stage for the league's proposed Nov. 2 opening date.

— Last season's escrow settlement for the players was settled at 7.98 percent, after an 8.5 percent withholding, Renaud Lavoie of the Canadian network RDS reported. Last season's escrow checks mark the end of the owners' financial commitment to players, except for those injured before the lockout, and any scheduled signing bonus payments.

While no negotiations have been announced leading up to the Thursday deadline set by the NHL in its CBA proposal on Tuesday, both sides have each other's respective contact information, and it often is the case that the most fruitful negotiations are those that take place out of the public eye.

One potentially positive sign? After Washington Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom headed to Russia on Thursday to join Alex Ovechkin with Dynamo Moscow, and former MVP Sidney Crosby talked openly about exploring European options, Friday did not bring a flurry of NHL players announcing plans to cross the Atlantic.

The absence of bad news, of course, does not necessarily mean the presence of good news. Bad feelings from Thursday's sour negotiating session continued to ferment in the fall air. Example: Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic told Joe Haggerty of CSN New England, "We proposed three different offers in relation to theirs, but when all get shut down in 10 minutes it’s discouraging and shows that they don’t really want to negotiate. I never thought it would get to this point; especially because of the way this game has been going.”

If the game continues to go the way it has—to the tune of last season's record $3.3 billion in revenues—the NHL and NHLPA must settle their differences and get back on the ice. Preseason revenues, small though they might be, already are out the window. If the league and union cannot come to an agreement by Thursday, the NHL has promised to cancel "signature events"—meaning the Winter Classic, at the very least.

Friday's cancellation brought the total number of canceled games to 135, meaning that if there is a deal, the NHL will have to reschedule 11 percent of its season. That would be a minor headache compared to losing all or part of another season.